Hertz Installs New CEO, Trims Board

Hertz Global Holdings Inc. has named Kathryn Marinello to take over as its president and CEO on Jan. 3 in an effort to reverse three years of sagging financial results.

The rental car company also will shed its three longest-serving directors. They won’t be replaced, which will reduce the board to seven members, six of them independent directors.

Marinello, most recently an advisor to Los Angeles-based hedge fund sponsor Ares Management LLC, sits on the boards of General Motors and AB Volvo. At Hertz she will replace John Tague, who joined the company as CEO two years ago in the wake of an accounting scandal.

Tague was unable to revive Hertz, conceding last month that he underestimated the magnitude of restructuring required. Bloomberg News notes the company has met analysts’ earnings estimates in only two quarters over the past three years.

Hertz’s share price has plunged 60% this year. But it briefly jumped 11% yesterday on rumors that financier Carl Icahn, the company’s largest shareholder, might push to take Hertz private.